Disqus - Latest Comments for Lexiphanic

Re: Excerpt – an activity for you.

Greg Lexiphanic — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 23:58:13 -0000

"In any slaughterhouse operation, the trick is to fool cows into climbing the chute that leads to the killing floor."
-- Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk

Re: Date A Boy Who Travels

Greg Lexiphanic — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:42:41 -0000

Nice post, Raz.
I agree. You should enjoy the time you travel together and make the most of it. It may be brief but it will be an experience you share with your children and your grandchildren – even if you never see that boy again.

Re: How To Read and Share More Efficiently From Your iPad: Mr. Reader and Buffer Team Up

Greg Lexiphanic — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:20:44 -0000

Thanks Mr. Reader! I've been using Reeder for a while but have started to feel like Buffer integration is essential for me. Plus the screenshots of your app look great! Thanks!

Re: How the world learnt to love a case study

Greg Lexiphanic — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 02:54:01 -0000

You're right: this video is highly sophisticated and incredibly well produced, but it didn't succeed just because it's well made. If that were true, a lot more campaigns would have had this kind of reach, too. There's more to it than just a great story… there's a lot of background.

Beyond the video itself, Invisible Children (IC) has been building incredibly tight-knit communities to support their plans. They've been doing this for a decade. When IC wanted their video to spread, they activated those communities to spread the message.

The video's compelling narrative is what helped it to keep going, but it's the initial work of these communities that were carefully cultivated by IC that gave it the early push that it needed.

I put together a blog post about week ago that goes into a bit more detail: http://onlinecommunitymanag...

For a video to go viral, having a beautifully crafted story is only half the battle. You need to have built a relationship with people who are willing to share it; you need a community that's willing to support you and your message.

Nothing goes viral in a vacuum.

Re: Culling my things

Greg Lexiphanic — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:27:47 -0000

As Hayley demonstrates, the best people to give/sell your stuff to? Other hoarders.

Congrats on getting this done. Allocate a box for all the sentimental crap you plan to keep. Make sure it's smaller than you think it should be. Then, if it doesn't fit in the box, it goes, too.

I know it's hard, but it's totally worth it. We're about to move apartments here in Hong Kong and I already know that I can just cram it all into a bag and be ready to go :D

Re: What the Heck is a Community Manager?

Greg Lexiphanic — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:05:25 -0000

I must argue that your earlier presumption, Edward, that "a Community Manager, will 'manage' the 'community' in the interests of the host and not the community" is incredibly misplaced.

I'm a community manager and have been for many years. The title itself has been used in an Internet context since the early days of the Web when self-hosted forum platforms were the only way for people to interact. It's not a new title at all; just new to you.

No one agrees with you more than I that vague titles are rarely anything but nonsense.

If you want to talk about vague titles, talk about "social media manager". It is a role which, almost by design, fulfils your earlier presumption — they 'manage' the 'social media channels' in the interests of the host — plus the title itself makes no sense (ever heard of a "Traditional Media Manager"?) and poorly reflects the role.
If you ask me, a better title might be "Audience Manager" (maybe even Audience Facilitator? ;) — their job is to manage the brand's audience in such a way that the audience receives the brand's message. Maybe even "Social Broadcast Co-ordinator". What do you think?

Re: The Death of “Unmanaged” Online Forums

Greg Lexiphanic — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:59:42 -0000

Shawn, the problem everyone has with your post is that how you define "forum" and "community" is different to how everyone else does. More accurately, it's how you're using the terms that's getting people's ire up.

Everyone agrees that a "forum" is a software tool/platform that facilitates communication.
And everyone agrees that a "community" is… well… there are differing definitions for this but let's just say it's "a group of people who communicate and share with one another in a manner which benefits one another and the group as a whole". An "online community" is the same but the community's primary hub is on the Internet.

The problem is that those two things are as similar as chalk and cheese. One's a piece of software; one's a concept to describe a meaningful group of people.

By 'forum', what you mean is any software tool designed to facilitate public interpersonal communication between members, connected to a brand. That isn't just a traditional 'discussion board'-style forum, but also wiki, knowledge base, Q&A board, as well as Facebook Page, Twitter profile, LinkedIn Discussion Group, Flickr group, YouTube channel, online roundtable, webinar… and any other kind of online tool or platform that allows online group interaction.

After reading everyone's feedback and your responses to it, I've finally understood what point it is you're trying to make. This is it:

If you want to succeed online, you can't just install some member communications software on your website and think it'll sort itself out. Like starting a garden, you need to tend it, water it and do whatever you can to help it grow before it will bear fruit.
The future isn't about providing channels for communication; it's about using those communication channels for building meaningful communities that eventually become self-sustaining and self-sufficient.

And if that's your point, you're absolutely right. And I doubt anyone would disagree. What's getting everyone annoyed is that the software platforms themselves aren't the problem, nor are they at fault.
The reality is that, with all of these various online communications platforms — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. — everyone is starting to come to an important realisation: the home of community isn't "social media" platforms; the home of community is the forum.

The strongest communities today *are* forums… or, to be more accurate, the strongest communities today *run on* forums.

Re: Tumblr Apologizes to Danah Boyd, Restores Her Original Username

Greg Lexiphanic — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:12:22 -0000

Her legal name is all lower-case: danah boyd not Danah Boyd. Just FYI.

Re: Massive Online Community Manager Twitter list – are you on it? (updated)

Greg Lexiphanic — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:15:20 -0000

I might be a little bit late to the party…? I'm @lexiphanic. I think I belong. :)

Re: Daily Travel Photo – Singapore

Greg Lexiphanic — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 07:28:42 -0000

I stayed at the Naumi a little over 12 months ago. It's a very pleasant little hotel. It rained too much for us to use the pool, but the view up there was just as spectacular as in this photo.

Re: http://shinyredthings.tumblr.com/post/1426173217

Greg Lexiphanic — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:59:20 -0000

Haha, sure… "kitchen".

Re: http://www.freedomtodither.com/post/1419365607

Greg Lexiphanic — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:08:38 -0000

They are great for all that travel you do as a media personality, Peter. ;)

Re: My Pet Hates aka Cinema Etiquette 101

Greg Lexiphanic — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:36:08 -0000

I agree with every bit except the clapping. I've clapped (like, three actual claps, not a 5-minute solo standing ovation) a couple of times in the past, but usually only on opening night or at a premiere. There's a lot more to clapping (sociologically speaking) than expressing appreciation to a person who is physically present. But I won't bore you with the Ph.Details.

On the topic of packets and noise, CHEW WITH YOUR* EFFING MOUTH CLOSED! I hate when people eat crunchy food (popcorn, crisps, whatever) and they chew with their mouth open. Even worse, though, are the people who do one of the two following things:
1. Don't shut their mouth properly before the first crunch; or,
2. Bite something in half instead of putting the whole thing in their mouth (e.g. a single crisp).

*Not "your" as in you, Ruby. Just people who do this.

Re: http://www.freedomtodither.com/post/1011593507

Greg Lexiphanic — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:13:11 -0000

Peter! You've never learned to play chess?? I am astounded! Your mind would be perfect for such things!

Re: First Impressions: Street Fighter IV

Greg Lexiphanic — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:16:15 -0000

I'm a little concerned that it's quite hard. I thought there might be some flexibility.
Incidentally, I saw this being played at The Mana Bar on Thursday night and they have arcade-style controllers for it which looked pretty neat.

Re: A new look

Greg Lexiphanic — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:19:04 -0000

Tidy!
Cleaner!
Minimal!
So much so that the amazon widget now looks incredibly gaudy.

Re: PS3 game audit or Why I should hold off buying more games

Greg Lexiphanic — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:18:04 -0000

Just let it die, Lee.

Re: So long Rapture – for now

Greg Lexiphanic — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:23:36 -0000

Oh good point. I was just thinking of the visuals and forgot about the narration.

Re: Adventures in Ice Hockey Part 1

Greg Lexiphanic — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:51:47 -0000

Oh Lee. *shakes head*

Re: Under heavy fire, meeting with heavy resistance

Greg Lexiphanic — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:53:45 -0000

What site does she use? Shipping costs aren't an issue?

Re: Under heavy fire, meeting with heavy resistance

Greg Lexiphanic — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:39:44 -0000

I didn't play the first and was entirely unaware of any connection to the first game. The game only gets better, too.
Looking forward to some co-op with you, Lee. And online multiplayer is pretty good, too, as I recall.

Re: First impressions: NHL2K10

Greg Lexiphanic — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:23:41 -0000

LOL
Please do it in the comments here. I'd love to hear Lee explain rugby. League or Union?

Re: First impressions: NHL2K10

Greg Lexiphanic — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:33:35 -0000

The ice hockey season is currently in session. Runs from October to March, or thereabouts. But the EASHL (EA Sports Hockey League), which is online, runs monthly. Which is tempting.

Re: First impressions: NHL2K10

Greg Lexiphanic — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:30:13 -0000

Well, y'know, EA's game doesn't say "hockey" either.
The manoeuvre in Mighty Ducks is called a "Flying V".

From what you say, the default control scheme sounds quite different to that of EA's NHL10. I confess, after a day of playing ice hockey today, I've become more accustomed to the newer control scheme. Though it may also help that I've dropped to the Rookie difficulty level. Now I can score goals.

Re: What the puck?

Greg Lexiphanic — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:00:29 -0000

I seem to recall there was an NHL '97 move where you could just run the puck up along the boards on the left and then slapshot at the last minute. Would go in every time, regardless of who you were shooting with.